Boys Will Be Boys
by xSummersx
Summary: For Melody's birthday her parents have let her visit Atlantica. She is excited to see her family but there is one boy she is secretly very excited to see. Her trouble-some cousins have something to say about that. Melody/Jeremy ...rated T to be safe.
1. Boys Will Be Boys

**This is a story requested by and written for BellaVision. **

"Melody!" her mother called again for the umpteenth time. "Are you ready yet?"

"I told you I'm coming!" came her frustrated voice from her room.

Melody was the birthday girl today, 16 to be exact…so she had a right to be a little late right? Well she thought so. She took off her tiara and put her hair up in a quick ponytail, learning through trial and error that no matter how much time she took with her ponytail, it always ended up the same. Her mother told her she could thank her for that. She changed into her bathing suit, which consisted of red shorts and red seashells that she finally switched to instead of the top when her mother told her she was finally old enough.

She all but nearly tripped over her own feet as she bolted down the stairs and out to the shorelines surrounding the palace, greeting her mother and father waiting for her.

"Grandpa is almost here," Ariel said with a smile.

They could see her busting with anticipation. After all, she had not been to Atlantica in a while. It had been about a year or so and so her parents decided that it would be a nice birthday gift. Truly, she was super excited to see her family and friends…but there was another reason she was excited. However, she would never tell her parents about a certain boy she was constantly thinking about.

So her grandfather came and turned her into a mermaid and she left with him after goodbyes and promises to "behave like the princess she was". She always laughed when her mother told her that, especially considering her father always told her about her mother's daredevil past when they first started dating. Her grandfather also did his share of filling her in on her mother when she was about her age.

The moment she was in Atlantica she was welcomed warmly by the people. Some bowed to her and others waved warmly, welcoming their young princess back. Melody could only gasp in surprise when she was tackled to the soft sand below by her six male cousins.

"You're back!" Jordan smiled to her.

"We thought you were going to stay away forever," Armin laughed.

"Geez you guys!" she finally got them off her. "How about a heads up next time?"

They all shared a laugh and followed her to her room, which was Ariel's old room, for her to get situated and meet her aunts before having some lunch. If it was possible, her aunt's were more enthusiastic to see her, even tackling her to the ground as well with their hug.

"Melody!" Arista gave a girly scream. "Welcome home!"

"Geez you're loud as always," Attina covered her ears.

"Hi guys," Melody smiled. "I missed you all!"

"Us too sweety. Now you go ahead and get settled and then we'll see you in the dining room for some lunch!" Arista patted her head.

She headed off to her mother's room finally, telling her cousins to wait outside for a moment and she would be right with them. She loved her mother's old room so much. It was just a peaceful feeling she always got when she stayed in it. She could feel her mother's presence all over it like she was right there with her. Her reverie of it would have to continue later, as shouts of "hurry up" and "typical girl" from her rowdy cousins pulled her from it. She left and stared at them with little amusement.

"Show you who's slow!" she shouted triumphantly and shot past them.

One thing she did learn, was that her mother was a very fast swimmer…and that was where she got it from. So with that said, it should come as no surprise she completely blew them away.

"You asked for it," she stuck her tongue out at them as they all filed in, short of breath.

"Just like your mother," King Triton smiled to his grand daughter. "She always liked to show up the boys."

Lunch was quick, well it wasn't supposed to be, but her cousins all but dragged her out of the dining hall to go play in the coral reefs surrounding the palace to play fin ball. Fin ball is played with a medium sized sea-sponge textured ball that you hit back and forth to each other with your fin and the first to have it drop to the floor is out and then you continue until there is one left. (A/N : Geez I don't know HOW I came up with that)

Inherited from her mother yet again, her athletic skills were clearly up to par and at times surpassing her cousins. She dropped out Jordan, then Sean, then Damian rather quickly. They all insisted that it was a mistake or something got in their eyes. No way their macho demeanor would let them lose to their younger girl cousin.

Devon sent the ball flying past Melody and she shot towards it as fast as she could and tilted her body to the side to send her fin across it, only to have it hit something else and then she was caught in someone's arms.

"Sorry!" her voice mixed with someone else's. "My fault…"

She paused, seeing her captor was none other than the one person that had been on her mind every day since the day she met him. He was exactly like she remembered him too. His green tail shimmered before her and his short golden hair floated about him.

"Jeremy!" she said in surprise.

"Your highness," he smiled and blushed a bit that he had just ran into her. "I'm sorry about that."

Her face twisted a bit at how formal he was being.

"You know you can call me Melody," she said shyly.

He put a nervous hand to his head.

"Oh yeah," he laughed. "My bad…what are you doing back here?"

"Birthday gift from my parents."

"Oh happy birthday then!" he smiled.

She felt her blush grow bigger.

"Woah there buddy."

Melody suddenly felt herself get pulled back by a couple pairs of hands and then her cousins were in between her and Jeremy.

"Who are you anyway?" Jordan asked defensively.

Really, she had grown used to how protective her cousins were of her. Another thing she noticed from her last visit was that a lot of the boys…well almost all the boys her age in Atlantica were very attracted to her. It was another gift on the growing list of things her mother had given her. Apparently, it was the same for her too, but she didn't have any brothers to help her out, she just had her sisters and they were never around. So she really wasn't that surprised at how her cousins were acting, but since it was Jeremy, she was a little bit more upset with them this time.

"Oh…I'm Jeremy," he said and extended his hand.

Instead of shaking it, they all merely continued to stare.

"Look man…just leave our cousin alone," Armin crossed his arms.

"What! Guys he's a friend of mine," Melody swam from behind them to in between her and Jeremy.

"You've met?" Sean rose a brow.  
She nodded.

"Please be nice to him," she crossed her arms. "Can you do that for me?"

"So are you two like dating or something?" Hayden asked lamely.

He always was a little slow. Melody's face turned bright pink while Jeremy merely watched her with interest.

"It…It's not like that!" she waved her arms.

Her cousins watched her reaction and they were far from convinced.

"Is this true?" Hayden turned back to Jeremy.

He stared at him a moment and then merely shrugged with a smile. Really, what could he say? He didn't want to say anything that would put Melody in a bad light right now with her seemingly overprotective cousins.

"He didn't say no," Jordan looked at Melody very closely, like he was studying her.

"Friend!" she shouted. "He's just a friend!"

"So then why are you blushing?" Sean leaned closer to her with the same raised brow.

If she got any redder, she would turn into a beacon. Damian pulled them all together into a huddle, exclusively leaving out Melody for a moment as they spoke in whispers.

"What are you doing?" she put her hands on her hips.

After getting no response from them she frowned and swam all around them to try and find a way in to their little huddle but they were sealing her out rather well. She noticed they also left Jeremy out. They then broke apart and looked at Jeremy with evil grins on their faces.

"What?" he put his hands up and moved a little back from them.

"Sorry Mel!"

Their unison shout was followed by them snatching up Jeremy and swimming off with them as fast as they could.

"Hey!" she shouted and started after them. "What are you doing!"

She was fast, but she was no match for seven mermen connected together, each aiding to the sum of the speed. And soon after, they were completely gone from her sight, taking her crush with them.

"What the heck do they think they're doing," she said out of breath as she slumped over, finally giving up chase. "They better not say anything or…bah!" she flew her hands up in frustration.

Seriously, what were her crazy cousins plotting! They were demons really. And combined they were just plain horrendous. Jeremy was just thrown to the lions den.

**Okay, so change of plans. It was going to be a long one shot but I decided that I'm going to split this up. BellaVision – this will also let me know if I should continue as I am or change it for you. I hope you like it so far and let me know so I can make this what you are hoping. Thank you again so much for your patience!**


	2. Let The Games Begin

**This is a story requested by and written for BellaVision. **

Jeremy wasn't sure how long Melody's cousins planned on dragging him through the water at lightening speeds, or what their intentions were. They remained silent as they darted here and there before coming to a rather abrupt stop, releasing hold of him in the process and causing him to spin about for a moment before regaining his composure. His eyes met twelve others, all looking at him with unreadable expressions, though he could no doubt catch a glimpse of mischief. Oh dear Lord what had he gotten into now?

"Umm, guys," he started cautiously. "…is something wrong?"

"You could say that," Devon started.

He blinked at them.

"Melody likes you," Jordan said bluntly.

Jeremy had a cool collected persona about him, but even that sudden statement got him to stutter a bit.

"W-What?" he moved back a little.

"It's obvious," Sean added. "We could tell."

"Uhh…" he gaped at them.

What on Earth was all this about?

"So it's our responsibility to let you know something Jeremy," Armin gave an evil smirk.

"We'll be watching you and you better not break her heart or we're gonna give you some hell," Devon finished for all of them.

They were all now very much hovering over him, making him shrink slowly under their heavy stares.

"And we'll only let you date her if you prove your good enough, you hear?" Hayden pointed at him, almost touching his face he was so close.

He nodded a slight shudder of fear.

"Good," they said in unison, satisfied with where the conversation went.

"So don't slip up. We'll be watching," Damian said as they swam away.

He watched them leave for a moment before getting a thought.

"Wait a second…what makes you think I like her!" he shouted.

He could hear some of them laugh.

"It's written all over your face you idiot!" Sean turned back with a laugh.

He gave a 'humph' and started swimming back to Atlantica. That was fun.

Yes, it was true. He did like Melody. But he was a boy. So bluntly admitting it was not going to happen, and he really didn't know if Melody liked him more than a friend. Sure, it was interesting to hear that her cousins thought she did, but that was a thought. They never said she verbally gave the go. Since he met her that day almost a year ago he was quite interested in her. She was a princess, but she didn't act the refined and boring role. She seemed to have a hidden spark about her that he wanted to know more about. Seeing that she was visiting got him rather excited to hope that maybe he would be able to hang out with her.

And now, he was under the watchful eye of her helicopter cousins. This was certainly going to be one heck of a weekend.

Back to Melody, she had swam back to the palace, actually hoping to find her cousins and Jeremy on the way back but had no such luck. She headed back to her mother's room for some down time. Floating down onto the bed she stretched out and let out a long sigh. She was so close to just getting a chance to talk to Jeremy. It had been about a year since she last saw him and then her cousins go and kidnapped the poor guy!

"Honestly, what are they thinking?" she rolled on to her stomach and stared out the window.

Jeremy hadn't changed a bit. He still had his short cut blonde hair with a few dark brown strands and the same wonderful smile. She laughed a little bit when she remembered that he had bumped into her just now like he did when they first met. It must be there thing, she mused.

She took a little nap and then headed out to the market place near the palace to do some window shopping and just to pass the time before dinner. Grabbing her purse, which was her mothers old bag she took with her when she explored shipwrecks, she swam out.

She was fully known by now and so bows and curtsies greeted her very often with the occasional call of her title. She merely smiled and continued forward. One thing she did like was that they never made her feel uncomfortable, it was just a nice way to say they appreciated their royal family.

Another thing she did realize with her last visit was that boys had an eye for her. Now she never returned the fervor, but she didn't completely blow them off. This day wasn't much different. While stopping at a local jewelry stall, a few boys near by asked her if she wanted to hang out or do something, to which she politely smiled and said she was pretty busy that day. In fact, most of the stalls saw the same scenario.

Well lucky her, on her most recent ask to join the local boys, her cousins finally resurfaced.

"Hey now boys, she's way too busy you know," came Jordan's voice as he and the others swam in between her and the askers.

They merely frowned and swam off, muttering about what not.

"There you are!" she exclaimed.

After looking them over she then asked, "Where's Jeremy?"

They shrugged.

"Dunno," came the unison answer.

"What do you mean you don't know!" she huffed. "You abducted him!"

"Well we let him go," Hayden said lamely.

She gave a deep frown and turned away from them, continuing forward.

"Hey don't take it so hard," Armin said as they followed after her. "We're doing it for your own good you know."

She remained silent, looking at stalls here and there and trying to pretend they weren't there. They merely smiled to each other and continued to follow her.

"I don't need body guards…go do something," came her annoyed voice.

"Oh don't be like that. You're always so mean to us," Damian fake pouted.

"Maybe it's because you always scare away every boy that talks to me," she finally spoke.

They looked to each other with their trademark smiles.

"You never care about that…but it seems you do about this Jeremy kid?" Devon said in question.

She tried her best to fight back the blush on her cheeks that she felt starting to come on.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Like heck she was gonna let them know she like him! That would be a whole new world of chaos she really didn't need.

"Coulda fooled us," Sean nudged her.

She shook him off and turned back to them, her blush winning the fight and in full view for them to see.

"You're delusional, all of you. Seriously just leave me alone," she huffed and turned away from them once again.

"Oh hey there's Jeremy."

Melody whipped around to them to see them all burst out laughing. Her face exploded into a blush and she turned back away from them.

"You're all jerks!" she covered her face with her hands.

"Gee you sure did get all excited over just a friend," Hayden continued the tease.

She dropped her hands to her sides and let out a long sigh before kicking her fin and shooting off to escape from her cousins.

"Hey!" they all shouted and took off after her.

She wasn't worried about losing them, because that was a given. She wondered how long it would take to do so. She weaved in and out of stalls at that market and through some of the coral reefs that bordered it all. Glancing back occasionally, she noticed that distance was slowly piling up between them. She sharply turned at a large rock and then let out a scream that was quickly muffled when a hand grabbed her and another fell onto her mouth. A little later, her cousins swam by up above where she was. The captor released her and she turned with a gasp to see Jeremy smiling at her.

**Story is slowly coming along. I apologize for the late update. I have an internship that I have Mon-Thurs from 4-9 in the morning so that is priority. Just expect most of the updates to be on the weekends. Hope you enjoy. Please review. I can't stress that enough. GETTING REALLY TIRED OF PEOPLE ADDING THIS TO THEIR FAVORITES BUT NOT REVIEWING. Huge pet peeve of mine. For those who have reviewed, you are awesome. **


	3. Worthy

**This is a story requested by and written for BellaVision. God Bless!**

"Hi," he said casually, not unlike he did when they first met.

And just like the first time they met, she merely gaped, barely managing to respond with a subtle hello and small wave.

"Looked like you could use some help there," he smiled.

She finally let herself smile as well.

"Yeah," she glanced back to see if they were gone. "You're a lifesaver, Jeremy."

"Thank you very much," he mock bowed. "So how have you been?"

"Good…well, pretty troublesome since I got back here," she said, hinting at her cousins' relenting behavior.

He laughed a little.

"I can imagine."

Somewhere along their conversation, they just started to swim while they talked.

"Jeremy how about you?" she started. "It's been too long, you should have visited or sent a card."

"Really?" he paused, actually quite surprised at her request.

Seeing how she blatantly said that, she stuttered and looked away quickly.

"… well-uh… I mean you know since you're my friend and all," the words came out fast and a little jumbled.

"Oh…yeah," he laughed a little, though a bit crest-fallen to hear the word 'friend' in terms of him.

They swam in silence for a moment before Melody got a thought.

"…um, so what did my cousins do to you?"

The question made him blush and he quickly looked away from her a moment.

"Just wanted to talk."

She looked at him.

"About what?"

"Oh…just stuff, you know."

"What stuff?"

"Guy stuff…pretty stupid, not really interesting."

"Oh…gotcha," she laughed. "By all means I don't want to know then," she shook her head. "Guys are so weird."

He smiled to see he got her laugh. They looked up to finally see Atlantica was close, and that also meant the end of their walk was close as well. When they reached the opening, Jeremy looked at her in silent thought for a moment. He wanted to ask her something but was to shy and a little scared of her reaction because he remembered the 'friend' quote. But he pushed that aside and took a deep breath.

"Hey Melody?"

She turned back to him.

"Yes?"

"Do you wanna do some—"

"FOUND YOU!"

Jeremy jumped and Melody screamed when she was suddenly grabbed by almost all her cousins.

"Sorry to interrupt but it's way past her bedtime!" Armin laughed.

"What are you talking—" a hand was put over her mouth.

"Gotta go, things to do!" they laughed victoriously and swam off with her, except for Damian who was giving Jeremy a sly smile.

"Nice try there," he started. "But we won't give up that easily. Remember," he swam past him. "…you gotta prove your worthy!"

He watched baffled as once again he was left speechless after another attack by Melody's cousins. He let out a long sigh and ran a hand through his blonde hair.

"They're nuts…"

He was so close too! Finally when he summoned enough courage to ask her to a date he gets thwarted by a bunch of overprotected relations. He swam back home, hoping another opportunity would present itself to ask her. That was if he could even muster the courage to do it again. Not to mention he was at a loss as to how the heck he was supposed to prove he was "worthy". What the heck was he supposed to do to prove to her crazy cousins that he should be the one to be Melody's boyfriend anyway?

Part of him understood where they were going with that because he had noticed how Melody seemed to be the one girl a lot of guys his age in the kingdom had their eye on. He supposed it was only natural they would be cautious…and she was royalty too. So he couldn't really blame them for wanting to make sure she got someone who truly loved her for her and not for her status for money or whatever other than her for her.

Even in justifying all that in his swim back home, he still was frustrated, as a heavy sigh escaped him and he ran a heavy hand through his hair.

Worthy was a relative term.

**Sorry for the delay…..again. I'm juggling a couple stories right now, doing my best! Hope you likey. Don't think there will be too many more chapters in this one. The climax should be coming up soon, just got to write my way there. Hope you like it so far! Thank you everyone who wrote reviews. Made my day! : )**


	4. Kiss The Girl, Save The Girl

**This is a story requested by and written for BellaVision. God Bless!**

The next day Melody awoke after a much-desired sleep in session. So late, that she even missed lunch. Her aunts wondered if she was just gonna sleep the day away. She gathered something to eat for herself in the kitchen and then went off with her sisters for a little shopping downtown. They bought her a nice red seashell bracelet that matched her fin and shell color almost spot on. She returned the favor by buying all of them a hairpiece that suited each of their individual tastes.

They got back after a few hours and a severe loss of money (they spent WAY too much). That day, there was a city get-together down at one of the parks and that was the plan of the day for the royal family.

They headed out to join in the fun around late evening and saw that the place was packed full. It seemed as if the entire population of Atlantica was there. Melody tagged along with her aunts and sampled some interesting new foods and danced to new music. Her cousins were out and about as well. She ran into them a few times but her aunts, especially Aunt Attina, scared them away. She profusely thanked them for that.

A little later, they were resting at one of the roadside stands, enjoying a nice tuna-colada. Quite by chance, Arista had noticed that quite a number of young merman's had their eyes on Melody.

"We've all noticed it actually," Adella added. "You're quite the catch young lady!" she nudged her niece.

Melody's face showed a little irritated to the comment.

"What's that face for?" Alana laughed.

"I'm really not that interested…not really a fan of the attention either."

Andrina gave a sigh and rested her head on her hand.

"Youth is so wasted on the young."

"You're not that old dear," Attina reminded her sister.

"Don't know whether I should say shut up or thank you to that," she smirked.

"Well to avoid an argument how 'bout we go join in that dancing again," Aquata got up. "And to work off some of that colada!"

They swam over to the main dance place and joined in on a rather fun session of dancing where people were putting together a long chain of dancers moving to the same tune. Quite by chance, and a very fortunate chance for Melody, the person she hooked onto was none other than Jeremy.

"Hey!" they both said, happily, in unison.

"Pretty fun isn't it?" he smiled to her, as the train of dancers moved slowly away from them.

"It is. Have you tried the tuna-colada's?" she giggled. "They're the best I've ever had!"

"Can't say I have. Gonna have to try those later. But first," he pointed back to the dancing train. "Best not let it get away!"

They both swam over and Melody put her hands on Aquata's sides and then felt her breath hitch in her throat when she felt Jeremy place his hands on hers. She knew that was how it was gonna happen, but she completely wasn't ready for it. But quite frankly, she wasn't complaining. And on the other side, Jeremy was doing his best to hold back a blush but he was just as content as her. Also that she wasn't resisting the contact.

While she was swimming in her own little heaven at the time, Melody was also in remembrance of her cousin's being around somewhere. No doubt if they saw this they would pull another stunt that would have Jeremy's kidnapping in mind. By chance, Jeremy caught sight of Melody's occasional glances and immediately understood why. It then had him becoming slightly paranoid and glancing about him. He also knew that they were around because he had caught sight of them earlier but made sure to stay out of sight.

Amazingly, the song ended and the train broke up, without any sign of her cousins. Before conversing could start up again, a slow song started and Jeremy and Melody subconsciously turned to each other. Swallowing all of his nerves he extended his hand to her with his unique smile.

"Do me the honor of having this dance milady?" he added a small bow.

Fireworks of joy were shooting off in Melody's head at just the mere thought of dancing with him. And how he just asked her! HE asked HER. Not the other way around. Plus he looked so handsome to her with his hand extended she was trying her best to contain composure. She slipped her hand into his, both experiencing pleasant jolts at each other's touch, and he led her out to the dance floor.

Immediately upon their arrival to the middle of the dance floor, Melody's cousins appeared. Everyone's eyes seemed to be drawn to Melody, considering she was of royalty and it was rare to see her in Atlantica, and to the boy she was with. All were curious to know who the merman would be dancing with her. So it didn't take long for her cousins to realize that Jeremy had bested them and got to Melody because all eyes were on them and they followed them to find out for themselves. They immediately shot towards the couple to break them up but came to screeching halts when six mermaids cut them off, all of them glaring at them with arms folded.

"Oh no you don't," Adella said darkly.

"You better leave them alone or else," Aquata started to crack her knuckles. "Melody's told us how you guys have been bugging her lately. Perhaps she meant that you've been interfering in her love life?"

They slowly started to inch away in subtle fear.

"She said she wasn't interested in anyone but we knew better," Attina gave a knowing smile. "So you can be darn sure we're not gonna let you guys ruin this!"

The most beautiful thing was that there were six mermaids and six annoying little cousins. Wonderful math! Each of her aunt's took and grabbed a cousin and pinned them down before dragging them away from the scene, giving Melody and Jeremy their much-wanted dance.

Jeremy was holding her like a fragile doll, delicate in his hands. One hand around her waist and the other on her back while both her arms rested around his neck. They didn't talk much throughout, but when chemistry works, who the heck needs conversation? Both were in pure bliss to be sharing this moment with each other, silently wishing the song would have no end.

He thought it rather cute that she had a slight pink tint to her cheeks as she shyly avoided his gaze, but was smiling nonetheless. He guided her around the floor with expertise, avoiding other couples gracefully.

Couples. He mused that statement. He wondered if that's what they looked like to everyone. He caught her off guard when he suddenly spun her around and held her close to the ground when he heard the end of the song. She almost melted to look up and see him smiling down at her while he held her in such a romantic pose. He pulled her slowly back up to him and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Sorry for startling you."

Her blush got bigger and she seriously was glad she was a solid, because otherwise she would have melted a long time ago. He took her hand and slowly led her away from the dance floor, crowds, and lights to a quite place beside the borderline reefs that were lit up at night by the occasional glow and fire fish (A/N: think of fireflies pretty much).

"Thanks for the dance," she said quietly.

The smiles they both had just didn't seem to want to leave them.

"No problem," he bowed again. "I enjoyed it."

Silence fell over them, but it wasn't one of discomfort or awkwardness. It was one that felt only natural to two people who were in love. A soft and welcomed silence where two people communicated so much more then they ever could with words as they just stared happily into each others eyes.

Very slowly, making sure he would give her plenty of time to stop him if she disagreed, he reached up and held her cheek softly. Her blush got brighter when his other hand reached around and landed on her back. His answer came when her eyes closed slowly and he closed the distance between them with their first kiss.

Soft at first, and very short, with him breaking it to catch her eyes looking into his once more before he moved back in for another. Her arms finally came up around his neck like they were when they danced and they both deepened the kiss. Not too much, but more than before, a pure bliss and unrequited heaven for both of them.

Finally breaking apart for good they both stared once again at each other, no emotions present on either of their faces.

"Melody," his voice was quite, almost a whisper.

She searched his eyes, face, anything for any sort of emotion but he was well hidden, giving her nothing.

"I lo—"

"You're aunts are CRAZY!"

Once again the moment was ruined by her stupid cousins. Melody gave a scream just as she did the last time when she was grabbed from behind and dragged away from Jeremy who just stood there like he had been smacked in the face.

"Why won't you just leave me alone!" she shouted and actually broke free of their hold on her.

"For your own good," Armin folded his arms proudly.

"I'm sick of it!" she shouted, now getting seriously mad.

And they noticed it too.

"Take it easy," Jordan swam towards her. "We're just teasing you again."

"Enough is enough! It's gotten out of hand!" she all but screamed the statement out before turning and swimming away at lightening fast speeds.

"Melody wait!" Jeremy swam after her.

She felt so embarrassed, angry, and hurt all at the same time. She felt so bad for Jeremy too! She couldn't imagine how hard it must be to have to deal with her cousins all the time and she was so helpless to give any aid in the matter. Tears slowly started to form in her eyes as she swam blindly up towards the surface to get some air and a moment to herself.

Jeremy and her cousins were in hot pursuit of her, but she was fast. They were hesitant of how she was going to the surface close to nighttime. Ever since Ariel married Eric, though, tension between the two worlds had lessened substantially, but there were still those out there that intended to harm the merpeople and vice versa.

Melody's luck ran out that night. She should have been looking where she was swimming, because she managed to swim right into a fishing net. Making matters worse, she got caught almost immediately.

Jeremy and her cousin's looked on in horror of her struggling and screaming to get free.

"We gotta help her!" Jeremy shouted and swam up to try and pull her out. "You go get help!" he turned back to them.

Without hesitation they shot back towards the city to grab any and all help, especially to find King Triton.

"Hang on!" he tried to assure her. "We're gonna get you out of here Melody. I promise!"

He tugged as hard as he could at seemingly all parts of the net but it wouldn't budge. Matters got worse when the net started to get pulled back up to the surface. Eric had signed a law into effect a long time ago that banned the use of fishing nets by ships for this exact reason. So, they knew right away that whoever was doing this was doing it illegally, so it was a pretty good guess they weren't going to be friendly and just let her go once they found her.

Unbeknownst to them, Melody was caught by arguably the worst kind of people. She was snagged by pirates.

**Thanks for continued patience with this story. You guys are awesome. **


	5. I Will Save You

**One word, college! Back to school for me so I'm busy busy. You can help me out A TON by checking out the poll I have on my profile and letting me know what days you prefer authors to post new chapters. I will be doing it periodically from here out. Probably one a week. Thanks for patience and God Bless!**

She felt so utterly helpless as she watched Jeremy tugging and pulling at the net as hard as he could. Regardless, it was still moving up, his struggle having no apparent affect on it.

Her cousins had long since left back to Atlantica to find help and King Triton. But Jeremy knew that time was short, and probably too short to get help from them before it was too late. So that meant that Melody's life was most likely in his hands. At some point, he felt Melody's hand reach out of the one of the net holes and take his and he turned to meet her horrified eyes.

"Jeremy I'm so scared!"

He placed both his hands over her one.

"I'm going to get you out of there, please just hang on!" he reluctantly released her hand and started to explore his surroundings.

The sound of fear that escaped her almost broke his heart but was more than enough to spike his determination to get her out of this mess. The net was still rising up to the surface, slowly and steadily. Thankfully they were rather deep in the ocean. It gave him maybe 3 or 4 minutes, 5 tops.

All he instinctively wanted to do was to pull as hard as he could on the net to stop its rising, but he knew better than that and was going to use his time to figure out something else. He swam up close to the ship and surfaced to see the situation from above. The rope that was pulling up the net was connected to a wheel and a majority of the pirates were spinning this bizarre contraption. So there was the reason he couldn't pull the net back down, there was no way he could overpower them. They were rather built!

"There a mermaid over here!"

The sudden shout caused him to panic, thinking they got Melody up sooner than he thought, but he looked up to see they were pointing him out.

"I'm not a mermaid," he mumbled in anger but pushed the thought aside and dove back under to be safe. By now, Melody's net was just barely visible coming up through the water from his point just below the waves. And he could just make out her trying to tug the holes bigger in the net.

His observations pointed out that the solution was going to come from somewhere above the surface. He was helpless to do anything below the waves. He was going to have to get on that pirate ship and figure it out then. Normally he would have hesitated, but knowing that Melody's time was desperately short, he had no second thoughts as he shot back up to the surface.

Like he thought would happen, he was immediately spotted seeing as they had sent some of there men to all sides of the ship to keep an eye out for him. Part of him wondered if they even knew they had Melody in their net.

Well his concentration was brought sharply back to the pirates as nets were starting to be cast out in his direction. He narrowly avoided them as they came down but one wrong move he could snag his tail or an arm and become just as helpless as Melody was. And he saw the nets were just going to keep on coming because after they cast them out, the pulled them back up and tried again.

He was forced to retreat back under once again and try for any sort of surprise attack possible at this point. And like every time he went under, he checked the status of Melody's net and saw that he probably only had 3 minutes or so at this point. He swam as close to the ship as he could this time and it was then that he realized an advantage. The ship was small at the bottom and grew wider as it went up. There was also a ledge around the ship, so if they were going to see him, they would have to bend over quite a ways to do so.

Regardless he stayed quite low as he scaled the ship as fast as possible to find some way of stopping the net from being pulled in. After two circles around he only had a few options. He would most likely have to pull himself up to one of the small windows near the floor, and there were only three of them, but one was close where the net was connected and the pirates pulling it up. But what to do when he got there he didn't know. The way the ship was built was that the wood was also following the shape of the boat, and grooves in the woodwork were spaced apart enough for him to pull himself up, but it was going to take all he had to do it. Jeremy was a rather built merman for his age, so this would be the real test to see if those muscles were for more than just show.

He swam until he was under one of the windows and made a quick glance around until he dared the trek up. Knowing how much of his strength it would take, he was going to make sure each attempt counted. He didn't have time or an unlimited amount of strength. That doubled with the fact that he had no idea of exactly how to stop that net…well he had definitely saw better days.

He slowly started to pull himself up. The moment the main mass of him was outside the water was when he really started to feel the burn in his arms as he slowly went up. Who knew how much of his precious time he had left, but it only helped him climb faster if he could. After an eternity of climbing up, he finally got to the window and was beyond happy to see that he had diverted the attention of the pirates for now.

There were at least a baker's dozen of them, and all were rather built, minus a few that were short and stocky. Dressed mainly in red cut off shirts and black, perhaps too tight and not flattering, pants. Some bore eye patches, some barefoot, and the captain stuck out a lot with his brown hat and white shirt and black pants. Well he assumed it was the captain because of the difference. After watching him for a while he was correct because he was calling the shots. They all had eyes to around the ship, looking for him most likely, so he was free a little while longer to look at his surroundings and figures something out. Luckily, if he was spotted, he would just drop back down to the sea and out of harms way. But the bad thing about that would be they would be watching the windows then. So in reality, he only had one shot at this.

There were crates and barrels littering the ship, nothing looked useful. Ropes were also everywhere, connecting the sails and just laying around. But after careful consideration, the mess became a beautiful piece of artwork to his eyes. The ropes were under a group of barrels that were not lying right on their bottoms, so if he jerked the rope hard enough, it would loosen them up and hopefully send them barreling around on the ship. Long enough for him to move to the other side where the net was being pulled up. He lunged forward and grabbed the rope, giving it as hard a tug as he could but to no avail. But his brain was working ahead and he decided that maybe the weight of him falling would be a sudden enough jerk to free up and start the chaos. Once he did it, he would have to act fast.

One last breath's hesitation, he grabbed the rope and pushed his fin into the boat, casting him back into the waves. Right before he hit the water, he felt a sharp tug on the rope, followed by a loud thud that he only assumed was the barrels releasing. He let go of the rope and made a quick glance back to see that Melody was almost surfaced. Getting back up close to the ship he surfaced to the sound of shouting and running all over the deck of the ship, a rather beautiful sound to him at the time.

He got over on the side where the rope was and made the climb up as fast as he could, though his arms were screaming in protest. He was greeted with great fortune when he saw the majority of the barrels were rolling and collecting on the other side of the ship, hence nobody was aware of his presence near the net. Another thing, the net had stopped going up because it was now unmanned.

He saw the crank he had been trying to get to. He lunged forward and started to wind it back the other way. The fact that he had no support on the ground, a.k.a. no legs, he basically had to lunge forward every time to get it to go up and over the crank. And adding arms that were close to giving out to the mix, it was all to the point of unbearable. But knowing that Melody's life was on the line was more than enough momentum for him to keep going.

"The crane!"

The shout at the moment meant nothing to him, and it wasn't until he saw one of them running at him that he realized it was directed at him. He let go of the crank and attempted to thrown himself back into the water. The pirate threw a dagger at him that actually cut into his arm below his shoulder and it was a pretty good cut. He shouted out in pain before the waves took him back once more. The blood was leaving his arm at a rate just a bit more unsettling than he would like. Even worse, that was probably his last chance to get at that crane. No doubt they would be watching it now, and his arms were in terrible condition.

"We've got one in the net! Help bring her up!"

His heart stopped when he heard the command from above and realized that Melody was now out of the water and in plain sight of them. In the short time he was worrying about his wound they must have decided to pull the net up in overdrive. Pushing his pain aside, he swam up as fast as he could and broke the surface below the net, which was almost completely out of his reach.

It was now a matter of do or die for Melody. He was out of ideas and it didn't look like any sort of backup would make it in time. He was out of ideas, to the point of exhaustion and feeling a doubled lightheadedness about him for the fact that the dagger wound wasn't even close to stopping bleeding.

"Wait a second," he suddenly paused.

He then suddenly dove beneath the waves and searched quickly for the dagger. That was his only chance now. If he could get that, maybe he could throw it up to her and have her cut herself out. Luckily the sun caught the blade as it lay on one of the reefs near the surface. He shot towards it then back up to the surface to see the net was halfway by now.

"Melody!" he shouted, catching her attention. "Can you catch this and cut yourself out?" he held up the dagger.

She awkwardly wiggled so she was facing him.

"My hands arms are too big for these holes!" she called back, trying to get an arm through to prove her point.

She could only get her hands and a little of her wrists through. That was another kick to his chest. Every idea he had was getting shut down in the worse way and worse times. The net was clearly out of his reach by now. A quick glance below the waves showed no signs of the supposed back up either. So he was once again stuck with the spotlight on him. He was the only one who could help her, and he felt so helpless. He watched the sick expressions of the pirates as they continued to pull his princess up closer and closer to their clutches. God only knows the demented things they would do to her.

The light bulb in his head flashed once more, giving him an idea of one last hoorah.

"I said I would save her," he said as he quickly dove beneath the waves.

He paused and sent his gaze to the sky and took a pose of one ready to charge forward with all their might. "So I will!"

With the shout he shot forward as fast as his fins could go. He broke the surface like a torpedo and flew up towards Melody with ease. His free hand grasped the net and he hung there, all according to his last plan. As he dangled from the net he realized he should have switched the dagger to his other hand, because he was hanging with the arm that sustained the cut from the dagger. And honestly, it felt like someone was gripping both sides of the wound and pulling them out. But now his adrenaline was pumping and he knew this was the last shot he would have. There wouldn't be enough time for anything else. The end was finally here if he couldn't do this now.

He shakily lifted up the dagger and started to cut through the net, and he thanked God that it wasn't as hard and thick as it looked. One by one he made the holes bigger. The pirates were in uproar now, seeing the amazing determinations and feats of the merman to save the mermaid. Now all hands that could were pulling up the net to beat Jeremy before he could cut her free.

The sudden jerk of upward force they caused, made him give out a shout of pain at his injured arm. Melody was crying at this point, but he was unaware. She noticed how much pain he was in, and she had spied his injured arm. This was all her fault too! She should have been watching where she was going. If she had not such a baby for running away like she did, this never would have happened.

"Don't worry Melody."

She looked at him to see him giving her a forced smile past all the pain he was enduring.

"I will save you. I just need you to hold on a little longer."

The words came out in raspy breaths of fatigue and discomfort but they sounded more sincere and true to her than anything she had heard in her life. He had about three more cuts until she was free but he noticed that they were mere seconds from having the net pulled over onto the ship. He could see the faces of the pirates very clearly by now as they were only about a couple yards from him. So close, in fact, that some started to go to the edge of the ship and reach for him when they could.

He focuses on the last three cuts, Melody was moving away from them to give him plenty of room so he wouldn't cut her accidently. She must have saw the worry growing in his eyes, because she too dared a glance back to see that they were almost done for. He had cut the two and was now reaching for the last one. He let out a sound of surprise when one of the pirates actually brushed a hand past his arm in an attempt to reach him and pull him away.

It was when one of them brushed a hand over his injured arm that he slipped, the knife falling forward. The slip actually caught the net hard enough to cut the last one. His vision was blurry as he was falling downward toward the waves. His mind was in chaos as he had no idea whether or not Melody was safe.

But he didn't have much time to have any thoughts on the subject when he moved his arms to feel he was holding something. When his vision came to he was floating slowly downward in the sea with his precious Melody wrapped securely in his arms.

**Thanks for continued patience with this story. You guys are awesome. **


	6. Passing Grade

**This is the last chapter! Woot woot. Here is a Christmas gift for you guys. Glad that I finally got to it : ) Merry Christmas!**

It took him quite a while to realize his beloved Melody was tucked safely in his arms as he floated quietly and gently down through the waves. The pirate ship was growing smaller and smaller before him as they were leaving the area in failure of capturing anything.

Bringing his mind back to the present he looked down at the girl in his arms. She was trembling still, and she had buried her face in his chest so he was unable to read her expression, but he had a pretty good idea.

"Melody," he started.

His voice was hoarse and it was then that he realized he too was shaking still.

"Melody we're safe now. Everything is going to be okay."

All at once, King Triton, Ariel's sisters, Melody's cousins, Ariel and Eric (who had been notified and transformed), and a group of random merpeople came charging into view. All of them came to a sharp halt when they noticed Jeremy floating down to the sea floor with their precious Melody held firmly in his grasp.

"He did it," Hayden said and they all looked at him. "I don't know how he managed to do it…but he did."

Jeremy finally reached the sea floor with a gentle landing. He started to push Melody away gently so he could see her face but she suddenly gripped at him tighter.

"Please don't…not yet. Just hold me a little longer."

It was enough to convince him to stay there for eternity with her if she wished. He held her tighter.

"As long as you want," he told her sincerely.

"Oh Melody!"

Their moment of silence was shattered when they turned to see everyone had gathered and were all watching them. Enough people, that it elicited a blush on both of the young teens. The outburst had come from Ariel, who after hearing that her daughter was in grave danger, and now finding her safe, just couldn't stand and watch.

"Mother!"

Melody was gone from his arms and into hers in a seconds time. Eric was by his family's side in no time, wrapping his arms around both his wife and daughter. Jeremy watched the scene unfold with a sense of detachment. It was like he was no longer there, and part of him was starting to feel like the whole event was surreal. Did it really happen? Did he and Melody really just narrowly escape their potential deaths just now? Like there always was, something snapped him from his thoughts. It was a tap on his shoulder and he turned to see King Triton right beside him. He was so spaced out that he didn't even notice him swim over.

"…uh…your majesty!" he made a quick and awkward attempt at a civil bow, though failed quite a bit.

"Is this true young man?" he asked.

Jeremy straightened up and reran the question through his mind. At this time, everyone had turned to him in anticipation of his answer, even if he didn't understand what the context was quite yet. Having collected his thoughts for a moment he realized they were waiting for his answer, or for any idea as to what happened in their absence.

But Melody was the one who answered.

"I was careless."

All eyes shifted to her.

"I was upset about something and didn't look where I was going and happened to swim right into a net."

And from there every detail was poured out from her like a river, and tears just the same. She told them about how Jeremy never gave up on her and risked his life countless times to ensure she would have her freedom.

"What's your name, Son?" Triton turned back to him after the amazing tale his granddaughter weaved to him.

"Jeremy, Your Majesty."

He smiled and extended his hand to him.

"Jeremy, we are truly in your debt. Thank you so much for saving my granddaughter. We are about to sit down for a nice supper and we would love to have you join us. It's the least we can do."

"I would be honored," he said the words quickly.

It was then that he was approached by Ariel and Eric, and once again he quickly bowed.

"No need for that young man," Eric started, placing a firm hand on his shoulder. "I wanted to echo King Triton's words. We can not thank you enough, Jeremy, for saving our daughter."

"…no…please…it really is fine," he waved his hands.

He wasn't used to so much royal attention, and also he was quite shy when it came to so much of attention in general.

"But it is a big deal," Ariel interjected. "We can never repay you for this. So please do join us for dinner. We would like to get to know more about you," she finished with a smile.

He smiled back slightly, though mostly from shyness and wanting the attention and conversations on him to be over. Ariel and Eric took Melody away to clean her minor scratches before dinner and likewise, he was taken away by a few palace maids to have his rather large wound, which upon being seen by Triton, Ariel, and Eric, was made top priority to be cleaned. Even though he insisted he was fine, he was secretly happy for the medical attention. The wound, it turned out, was serious enough to have a few seaweed stitches, about ten. After the stitches were in they placed a fresh kelp bandage over it. (A/N: I love mermaid jargon)

He was let free to join the others at dinner, but he really wanted to know how Melody was doing. He swam out of the hospital wing and by the dining hall, which was starting to fill with the royal family. He noticed Ariel and Eric were there, and there was a vacant spot next to them, which he assumed was for Melody. Seeing as she wasn't there, he decided he would see if he could find her beforehand. He was very much hoping to be with her alone for a while.

He swam past countless rooms, each empty, as he believed every was now at the dining hall except for the one person he wanted to talk to. As his patience would have it, he past by one more room, the last room before completely a full circle. He caught a glimpse of her black hair as she sat on the bed, looking down in thought perhaps. He swallowed hard, his heart now beating a tad bit faster, and he swam over and lightly tapped on the door. She looked up instantly, giving a small jump to the sudden sound.

Once her eyes fell upon his she flashed an expression he couldn't read, then quickly got off the bed.

"Jeremy," she started. "How are you doing?"

He smiled at how cute she was.

"I'm fine," he laughed and put his hand over the fresh bandages. "They took great care of me."

Almost before he could finish that statement she had quickly swam up to him and hand her hand on his wound. Her touch sent a current up his spine, he shivered slightly.

"I'm so sorry, Jeremy," she said, shaking her head and continuing to stroke his arm, subconsciously.

She seemed to realized her actions, or maybe that he was looking down at her so intently, because she looked up and met his eyes. They were close. She tinted over when she could feel his breath slowly tingling across her forehead. She noticed his eyes were looking back and forth from hers to her lips, and she could barely make out that he was moving closer to her. He barely brushed her lips with his when she ducked her head away in shyness.

Not knowing anything else to do she leaned into him, hiding her bright red face. He smiled and wrapped an arm around her, bringing his hand up to the back of her head. Eventually he got her over where they both sat on the bed. She continued to avoid his eyes as he held her hand.

"Jeremy I am sorry about this…I feel terrible."

He gave her hand a squeeze.

"It's not your fault," he laughed.

Another pause of silence.

"You know…it's really nice having you around."

His comment made her look up at him.

"It's pretty boring when you are up on land. So I'm just thankful you're here now."

Her face lit up.

"Then you should come visit sometime!" she sat up.

He watched her excitement with a smile.

"Grandpa could change you and then I could show you all around…it would be so much fun!" she grabbed his hand.

He laughed.

"Me be human?" he rose a brow. "That'd be something."

He could tell she was waiting for an answer.

"I would love to. Only if you're my tour guide," he placed his other hand over their joined one.

They both leaned in for a kiss but the moment was sold short when all of Melody's cousins barged into the room.

"Found them!" Jordan said triumphantly.

"I'll say," Jeremy said with annoyance, another kiss sold short.

"We need to talk," Hayden pointed to Jeremy.

He blinked.

"Now what?" Melody put her hands on her hips. "You guys are so disruptive."

They grinned.

"You don't mind of course?" Armin grabbed Jeremy's arm.

Right before he was completely yanked from the room he jerked his hand free and put a finger up to them.

"One second."

He swiftly turned around and reached Melody. He took her by her waist and used his other hand to tilt her chin up before placing a very long and passionate kiss on her lips. She blinked in surprise before melting into the kiss and his embrace. He broke slowly and gave her a heart-stopping smile.

"I love you."

Her mouth hung at the comment and all she could do was stare. With nothing further, he turned and went with the cousins, who had to admit they were just as shocked as Melody was at the moment. Once they were gone, Melody let out a rather euphoric sigh and girly squeal before floating down onto her bed. Heaven.

"All right. Far enough," said Jeremy when they had taken him outside the palace walls. "What is it this time?"

"Congratulations," Sean started. "You pass."

He stared at him for a while, replaying the sentence over in his head until he figured out what he meant.

"Well geez I hope so," he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "You guys are tough judges if I have to save her from pirates in order to prove I'm worthy."

At this, they all shot each other knowing glances.

"Don't know what you're talking about," Jordan started. "Because that wasn't the test."

"What?" he looked at them in confusion.

"You just had to man up and tell her you love her to your face."

His mouth hung open and he stared at them in absolute loss. They merely laughed and swam past him to the dining hall, a few of them patting him on the shoulder with a "nice job" or "way to go".

He turned back to them in bewilderment before letting his shoulders drop with a sigh.

"I think I'll take Melody up on her offer sooner rather than later."

He started back towards her room to get her for dinner.

"I really need to get the heck out of here for a while."

**Thanks for continued patience with this story. You guys are awesome. Hope you enjoyed it!**


End file.
